Trivia about the Ateneo de Davao University

The Ateneo de Davao University is one of nine schools in the Philippines owned and operated by the Society of Jesus. The school tradition at Ateneo de Davao University is the product of over four centuries of educational experience of the Jesuits. This tradition started with the establishment of a College in Messina in 1548 by St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, and which is now found in many educational institutions through the on world managed by the Society of Jesus.

At the request of the Most Reverend Luis del Rosario, S.J., Bishop of Zamboanga, which then included Davao, the Jesuit Fathers took over St. Peter’s Parochial School and founded the Ateneo de Davao in 1948. The founding fathers were well led by Fr. Theodore E. Daigler S. J., who became the first Rector of the school. The other founding Fathers were Frs. Alfredo Paguia, S.J. and Grant Quinn S. J. and Scholastics James Donelan, S. J. and Rodolfo Malasmas, S.J.

The Ateneo de Davao rests on the time-tested foundations of Jesuit education: cura personalis (care for the individual student) and magis (always seeking the greater good), among others. The Ateneo education is student-centered and attentive to the development of the whole person. Ateneo programs stress spiritual formation and service learning to prepare its students for service to the country and the global community.

Excellence and services are Ateneo hallmarks. Validations of quality include a level III accreditation from the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) and the Federation of Accrediting Associations of the Philippines (FAAP) for Arts and Sciences, Education, Commerce and Accounting, Engineering and Social Work. Since 2001, the Ateneo de Davao University has been among a select number of private higher education institutions (HEls) granted “full autonomy status” by the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED)